Links 03/09/2026: John Ternus Enters Apple Amid Mass Layoffs, Journalist İrem Delice Arrested

EU antitrust regulators are questioning publishers about Google's AI Overviews opt-out, which the company plans to roll out globally, following complaints that the AI-generated summaries reduce traffic and revenues. Meanwhile, Meta is pushing its new AI agent on employees but easing off on 'tokenmaxxing' metrics, and New Mexico parents are pushing back against the mandatory 'Amira' AI reading tests for children, citing concerns over data storage and accuracy.

Links 03/09/2026: John Ternus Enters Apple Amid Mass Layoffs, Journalist İrem Delice Arrested Contents Leftovers m0308052101 Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware m0308052102 Security m0308052105 Defence/Aggression m0308052108 Transparency/Investigative Reporting m0308052109 Environment m0308052110 AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics m0308052112 Censorship/Free Speech m0308052113 Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press m0308052114 Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility m0308052115 Internet Policy/Net Neutrality m0308052116 Monopolies/Monopsonies m0308052117 - Leftovers - Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware - So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' 'AI' / LLM Slop / Plagiarism - ☛ India Times EU antitrust regulators quiz publishers on Google's AI search opt-out https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/eu-antitrust-regulators-quiz-publishers-on-googles-ai-search-opt-out/articleshow/133708802.cms The US tech giant, which plans to roll out the opt-out globally, declined to comment and referred to its June 3 blog post on the topic. Its AI Overviews, which are AI-generated summaries that appear above traditional hyperlinks, have triggered EU antitrust complaints by publishers concerned about falling traffic and declining revenues. - ☛ TruthOut Big Tech’s Debate Over “Open” and “Safe” AI Leaves Corporate Power Unquestioned https://truthout.org/articles/big-techs-debate-over-open-and-safe-ai-leaves-corporate-power-unquestioned/ Read together, the letters point toward a two-tier arrangement. AI becomes entrenched across society while ownership of its most powerful systems, infrastructure, and governance remains concentrated at the top. Their connection requires no secret agreement. It lies in what both take for granted: AI development will continue, public institutions will finance and adopt it, and private ownership and corporate power will remain intact. - ☛ Jacobin Magazine Will AI Destroy the Meritocracy? https://jacobin.com/2026/09/ai-intelligence-meritocracy-pay-jobs Across society, I think the answer varies, which could create some troubling educational disequalization. There are some people who, for internal reasons, just really like to understand and learn about things. These are the people who teach themselves things with audio, video, books, and other written materials, even outside of formal education. For people with that kind of curiosity and internal drive, AI-as-tutor will allow them to get smarter. But there are other people who don’t care at all to understand or learn things and have to be coaxed into it in various ways: parental/social/peer pressure, economic incentives, and so on. For those people, AI-as-replacement will probably result in them being dumber. - ☛ International Business Times Parents Push Back Over New Mexico's Mandatory 'Amira' AI Reading Tests for Children https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/controversy-ai-reading-tool-new-mexico-schools-1817570 The programme records children's voices, assesses their reading aloud and is also used as a dyslexia screener. It has been used in kindergarten through second grade classrooms since the 2025–26 school year, although a growing number of districts have since opted out. Some school leaders say they were never given a clear explanation of how those recordings are stored or used before the state introduced the tool. Others say the technology is producing scores that may reflect children's speech patterns rather than their actual reading ability. - ☛ Wired Meta Pushes Its New AI Agent on Employees—but Eases Off on Tokenmaxxing https://www.wired.com/story/meta-pushes-its-new-ai-agent-on-employees-but-eases-off-on-tokenmaxxing/ Almost a year ago, Meta had said workers would be graded on their "AI-driven impact,” which in practice meant evaluating the extent to which they used chatbots and agents to improve their day-to-day work, Business Insider reported at the time. Usage correlated with employees receiving labels such as “AI Native,” “AI First,” or “AI Enabled,” according to a lawsuit filed in July by about two dozen employees arguing that Meta violated US antidiscrimination laws when laying them off in May. Workers on health and family leaves say they couldn’t accumulate usage and were unfairly penalized as a result; Meta has denied the allegations in the ongoing case. - ☛ Tim Bray Clankers and Data Races https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2026/09/01/Un-Racing I’ve never personally put clankers seriously to work and for now I’ll continue not to. I have been accepting Claude-authored PRs but, to the extent I can detect them, I’m stopping. This will have a real cost; some of those PRs yielded big performance boosts. Also, they were built much faster than I could have managed. - ☛ Bruce Schneier AI Agents Are Now Emailing Me with Their Security Concerns https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/09/ai-agents-are-now-emailing-me-with-their-security-concerns.html I received the two emails below earlier in the month. They’re vaguely coherent. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the corpus that AIs are training on contain data suggesting that I am someone to write to with random computer and network security problems. After all, I observe that behavior in many humans as well. Hi, humans. Glad you’re still reading. - ☛ Sean Goedecke How to protect yourself from workslop https://www.seangoedecke.com/how-to-protect-yourself-from-workslop/ If you have enough authority or social capital, you can and should simply tell them “hey, don’t do that” for instance, if you’re a senior engineer and an intern starts doing this to you . This is the easiest way to handle workslop. But you probably aren’t in a position to have that conversation with all of your colleagues, and you certainly can’t have it with everyone in your management chain. - ☛ Juan J Martínez Detecting LLMs https://www.usebox.net/jjm/blog/detecting-llms/ I am not good at detecting when a piece of text has been produced by a large language model LLM from now on . Very often I read a post shared on a link aggregator, to later check the comments and learn that it is slop. It is true that there are some stylistic clues that can mean a text was generated or there was some LLM assistance, at least , but I assume you have to be used to read LLM output to actual spot the more subtle cues. - ☛ David Rosenthal Small Is Beautiful https://blog.dshr.org/2026/09/small-is-beautiful.html Estimates are that, to justify the AI platforms' enormous capex plans, by 2030 they need to be generating around $2T/year in revenue. If every adult resident of the US spent $20/month on AI, it would generate $68.5B/year. Clearly, only the enterprise market stands even a remote possibility of generating the bulk of the $2T. There are three major threats to the prospect of AI platforms extracting 6% of current US GDP from the enterprise market, and thus to OpenAI's and Anthropic's ambitions to IPO in the near future. First, faced with AI's Affordability Crisis, companies have been placing strict limits on employees' spending on AI tokens. - ☛ Andrew Healey What Makes LLM Tokenization Slow? https://healeycodes.com/what-makes-llm-tokenization-slow LLMs receive sequences of token IDs instead of raw text. For example, the GPT-2 tokenizer encodes what's the weather in goldshire? into 10919, 338, 262, 6193, 287, 3869, 10932, 30 . While it's a small part of the overall latency of a modern LLM call, tokenization does sit on the hot path. In some LLM products, it may even happen multiple times, e.g. to decide if it's time to compress the context, estimating cost, or how to route the prompt when it lands in the provider's infrastructure. - ☛ Kyle Labriola The Endless Temptation of Claude https://discardpile.pika.page/posts/the-endless-temptation-of-claude On your death bed, nobody is going to care about how many features you pushed on git. There's no high score, no reward, for endlessly expanding your software as far and fast as possible. Just an endless ocean that leads nowhere good. - ☛ Wired The Logical End Point of AI Job Interviews Is Two Bots Talking to Each Other https://www.wired.com/story/bot-vs-bot-job-interview-ai/ Christopher was sick of being ghosted by AI recruiters. So he unleashed ChatGPT on his robot interviewer. - - Social Control Media - ☛ SBS The 'harmful' online rabbit hole finding teens within minutes https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/teach-us-consent-national-press-club-manosphere/tki4accvj Social media empires are being put on notice for content that promotes controlling, violent sexual acts. Big tech companies are radicalising young men into harmful sexual acts, the founder of education and advocacy organisation Teach Us Consent is expected to tell the National Press Club on Wednesday. Chanel Contos will say the content is pushed by bad actors who share commercial infrastructure and have identified male psychology as a market — together, they make up the "manosphere". - ☛ Techdirt Meta’s $17 Billion Settlement Is A Bad Deal For Teens And All Social Media Users https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/02/metas-17-billion-settlement-is-a-bad-deal-for-teens-and-all-social-media-users/ Further note: All U.S. states are parties to the Settlement except Florida, New Mexico, and Texas. The Settlement includes D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. - ☛ Vox Meta settlement: Why Meta suddenly cares about kids https://www.vox.com/podcasts/501732/meta-trial-settlement-children-social-media-mental-health-tiktok-youtube-snap The lawsuits don’t target dangerous content on platforms, though. Instead, they go after the apps themselves: features like infinite scroll, constant notifications, and beauty filters that make it all but impossible for teens to put their phones down. So far, the strategy is working. Last week, only a few days into a trial over whether Meta deliberately tried to make young users addicted to their apps, the company reached a landmark settlement with nearly every US state and Washington, DC . - ☛ Scoop News Group Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement https://cyberscoop.com/maine-teenager-first-underage-detained-764/ The FBI said a 17-year-old from Maine is the first child federally charged and adjudicated for crimes stemming from their involvement in 764, a violent extremist collective. A judge ordered the teen to remain detained after determining they committed multiple crimes, including conspiracy to sexually exploit a child, sexually exploiting and enticing a child, distributing child sexual abuse material, sending interstate threats, cyberstalking victims and identity theft. - ☛ 404 Media A16z Says You Actually Love Social Media, Enshittification Isn’t Real https://www.404media.co/a16z-says-you-actually-love-social-media-enshittification-isnt-real/ Thelot argues that, enshittification, a term coined by Cory Doctorow which has become one of the stickiest ideas of our era to explain the current state of technology and capitalism, is a misdiagnosis of what he describes as “platform narcissism.” The idea is that people, namely older people like Doctrow and western geratric millennials who used to get a lot of value out of Facebook, selfishly think platforms should continue to cater to their needs even though they aged out of them and should be focused on raising their kids. The platforms are actually popular and well liked, but by younger people who are using Instagram and deriving value from it in a way older people can’t understand, or by people in other countries and contexts than their own. Additionally, Thelot argues, the theory of enshittification allows users who should log off an excuse to stay on platforms that it is fashionable to hate. They spend time there, but say they hate it and can’t leave because they are trapped. - ☛ Jeroen Sangers The Instagram algorithm tests new content on people who don't follow you yet | Jeroen Sangers https://jeroensangers.com/2026/09/02/the-instagram-algorithm-tests-new.html That changes the question you should be asking. Not “is this content good”, which is a judgement made from your own taste or that of your regular audience, but “does this work for someone who has never seen me before”. If you optimise only for the people who already follow you, you are optimising for an ever smaller slice of your own reach. - - - Security - Integrity/Availability/Authenticity - ☛ Bitdefender Revolut scam steals £180,000 from Jersey residents in just four weeks https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/blog/hotforsecurity/revolut-scam-jersey According to Jersey's police force, most of the reported incidents have seen a victim receive an unexpected phone call from someone claiming to work for a bank either in their fraud or security department, or Revolut's customer support team. - ☛ Dan Q It took 13 years to notice my invalid vehicle registration certificate https://danq.me/2026/09/02/dvla-v5c-issue/ The website claimed that the details on my V5C – the vehicle registration certificate or “logbook” – didn’t match my personal information. So I pulled out the papers for both cars… and discovered that the personal information sections were identical. The front of a V5C has a section that shows your name and address, and on both my certificates looked the same: my name, followed by my address. So why was one failing to work? I sat in a queue for their webchat service, and – after a lot of back-and-forth – the operator and I came to a conclusion about what was wrong: for this car only, my name had been entered into the “company name” field in their database, rather than the “name” field. - - Privacy/Surveillance - ☛ India Times Social media companies are trying harder to know which users are kids https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/social-media-companies-are-trying-harder-to-know-which-users-are-kids/articleshow/133683545.cms The Meta settlement - with protections the company says could become industry standards - will give the social media giant a year to refine its approach. But the options are limited, and improving age verification technology presents steep challenges, including navigating privacy implications not just for children but for adults who could have to prove they are over 18. - ☛ Futurism Burning Man Has a Meta AI Glasses Problem https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/burning-man-meta-glasses Fans, though, sound like they wanted the festival to take a harder stand. A recent thread in the r/BurningMan subreddit asking “How do we ban Meta glasses at BM?” has received hundreds of comments, many of them trashing spyware spectacles and the “glassholes” who wear them. “Public shaming is great,” one wrote in the thread, spotted by Mercury News. “At BMan I am sure it would be easy to turn a whole bar or art car against a glass hole.” - ☛ Los Angeles Times Bill that would have allowed insurers to track driving habits dies in California Legislature https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-09-02/bill-that-would-have-allowed-insurers-to-track-driving-habits-dies-in-california-legislature The legislation would have permitted insurers to use telematics technology to track speed, braking and other driving habits to establish a motorist’s safety record, a key component in setting individual premiums — as long as a motorist consented. - ☛ Citizen Lab U.K. Supreme Court Opens Door for Spyware Victims to Sue Foreign States https://citizenlab.ca/uk-supreme-court-opens-door-for-spyware-victims-to-sue-foreign-states/ The case will return to the U.K. High Court of Justice, where attribution, causation, and injury must be proven. However, the authors write that “by removing the blunt defense of state immunity from these cases, the U.K. Supreme Court has dealt a meaningful victory to individuals and organizations fighting spyware and other forms of digital transnational repression.” - ☛ Semafor Inc Meta disables cameras on thousands of tampered smart glasses https://www.semafor.com/article/09/01/2026/meta-disables-cameras-on-thousands-of-tampered-smart-glasses The company recently rolled out an update that can detect whether the LED light has been covered or destroyed, following reports that some wearers were recording random people without their consent or harassing people to film content for social media. - ☛ 404 Media Cops Are Asking Axon to Make Their Cameras Look Different From Flock So People Don't Destroy Them https://www.404media.co/cops-are-asking-axon-to-make-their-cameras-look-different-from-flock-so-people-dont-destroy-them/ “Is there any talk to redesign the Outpost to not look exactly like the Flock camera — I think it will help agencies with the optics while we batten down the hatches,” one apparent cop asked during a now deleted Axon webinar. - ☛ 404 Media Texas Police Used AI to Write Report About Using Flock to Search for Woman Who Had Abortion https://www.404media.co/texas-police-used-ai-to-write-report-about-using-flock-to-search-for-woman-who-had-abortion/ The incident shows how quickly police departments have come to use AI surveillance tools even in critically sensitive cases. - ☛ Lionel Dricot I Don’t Have a Smartphone… https://ploum.net/2026-09-02-i dont have a smartphone.html "I don’t have a smartphone," is what I tell people and professionals nowadays. This allows me to cut the crap about companies insisting that I install their app or restaurants wishing that I scan a QR code to access their menu on a small screen. - ☛ Ava rationalizations about ring, flock, etc. https://blog.avas.space/ring-bullshit/ Cameras and surveillance systems have been around since the 1940s, and have only become more and more affordable and easy to set up, even pre-Ring. Crime rates have existed before, as did the need to prove things to police or an insurance. Yet, the purchase of a private surveillance camera only came up in the recent years for them. Why? It really is the perfect proof that fear-based marketing works. - ☛ Marius Quabeck Firefox’s AI Switch Is Off. Telemetry Isn’t. https://marius.blog/firefox-155-ai-kill-switch-retest/ My Wireshark test of Firefox 148 showed that its AI kill switch disables generative features, but leaves telemetry and advertising untouched. Six months later, Mozilla’s CEO has called the switch perhaps the most important AI feature of all. I retested it in Firefox 155. - - - Defence/Aggression - ☛ RFERL EU, NATO Seek Stronger Response To Russian Threat After Leipzig 'Escalation' https://www.rferl.org/a/europe-leipzig-drone-russia-threat-ukraine/33845626.html "Leipzig marks a new escalation on European soil, directly attributed to Russia," she said. "Every loophole Russia exploits is one we must close. We are looking at ways to cut even deeper into Russia's war chest." - ☛ Deutsche Welle Russia's hybrid attacks on Germany: When is it 'war?' https://www.dw.com/en/russias-hybrid-attacks-on-germany-when-is-it-war/a-78784262 He noted that the attack had been planned with a "high degree of technical expertise and considerable organizational effort." In late August, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said of the incident: "The federal government will make the perpetrators of hybrid attacks pay a price. They will pay for this." At the time, he did not mention Russia by name. And even now, Merz himself has not commented on the matter. - ☛ Common Dreams 350.org responds to UN report confirming world set to breach 1.5°C: ‘Every fraction of a degree’ still worth fighting for https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/350-org-responds-to-un-report-confirming-world-set-to-breach-1-50c-every-fraction-of-a-degree-still-worth-fighting-for The world is on track to cross the 1.5°C global warming threshold, likely within the next few years, according to a major new UN Environment Programme UNEP report released today. Limiting Overshoot finds that even the most optimistic scenario now points to a peak temperature rise of 1.8°C, with most other projections higher still, but concludes that an "overshoot, peak and decline" pathway can still bring the world back below 1.5°C if governments act immediately on emissions, methane and the fossil fuel phase-out. - ☛ International Business Times UN Report Warns Global 1.5°C Warming Limit Will Be Breached 'Within the Next Few Years' https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/un-report-warns-imminent-breach-1-5c-global-warming-threshold-1817589 The report, titled Limiting Overshoot, warns that global temperature rise is 'likely within the next few years' to cross the 1.5°C threshold. It says the best-case scenario now sees warming peak at 1.8°C, above the goal, while most other modelled pathways predict even higher peaks. - ☛ Omicron Limited World must prepare for 'reality' of missing 1.5C goal: UN https://phys.org/news/2026-09-world-reality-15c-goal.html The United Nations said Wednesday the 1.5°C target would be missed and outlined how global temperatures might be brought back down in a first-of-its-kind assessment met with dismay in climate-vulnerable nations. - ☛ Truthdig Climate ‘Overshoot’ Is Coming — Are We Ready? https://www.truthdig.com/articles/climate-overshoot-is-coming-are-we-ready/ Fossil fuel emissions are pushing Earth’s climate toward a dangerous new phase of climate “overshoot,” scientists warned Wednesday in a new report from the United Nations Environmental Programme. The report, titled “Limiting Overshoot,” projects that global temperatures will exceed the 1.5-degrees Celsius 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit warming threshold identified in the Paris Agreement within a few years, intensifying deadly climate impacts. It says the best chance of restoring a safe climate is to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions immediately, halve them by 2035, and figure out ways to remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere before the end of the century. - ☛ TruthOut UN Report Says Earth Will Overshoot 1.5C Warming, Emission Cuts Can Limit Damage https://truthout.org/articles/un-report-says-earth-will-overshoot-1-5c-warming-emission-cuts-can-limit-damage/ The best-case scenario is now a peak global temperature of 1.8°C, said the report’s dozens of authors, with an “overshoot, peak, and decline” pathway still possible before the end of this century if policymakers ensure that planet-heating fossil fuel emissions are drastically reduced — starting immediately. - ☛ Vox UN report: The world is whiffing on its biggest climate goal https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/501812/the-world-is-whiffing-on-its-biggest-climate-goal Many countries and US states already have, in fact. After a 2003 heat wave killed roughly 15,000 people in France, the country created a “robust” national heat plan that included early warnings and checks on vulnerable residents. The system is credited with making subsequent heat waves less deadly although a historic heat wave earlier this summer still caused 5,700 excess deaths . Other adaptations will be far more disruptive. Fiji, for instance, has begun relocating coastal villages threatened by rising sea levels. And whatever adjustments society makes, life in a warming world will still be more difficult and more expensive. Maybe that’s why “climate adaptation” no longer sounds like laziness: There is clearly no easy or low-effort way out of all of this. - ☛ Paul Krugman The Hits Keep Coming https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-hits-keep-coming Now we’re facing trade conflict that poses an existential threat to the U.S. auto industry. Crude oil prices are surging again, but even more important, prices of refined products — what we actually burn — rising even more than crude. Wholesale diesel prices have just hit their highest level ever. And if the U.S, military performed badly against Iran six months ago, how will it do now that it has largely run out of sophisticated munitions and Hegseth has fired many of the officers who seemed to know what they were doing? - ☛ Jeff Kaufman Invididual Effort to Reduce Biorisk https://www.jefftk.com/p/invididual-effort-to-reduce-biorisk I also think it would be good for someone to spend some time thinking about how to give good advice on bio-informed prepping. So much of the prepping advice out there doesn't consider disasters involving anything infectious. I've done some thinking in my spare time, but none of this is close to the best you can do. It would be great to have a list of "buy / do this" in prioritized order, with detailed reasoning available for people who want to check the work, and people could start at the top and work their way down. - - Transparency/Investigative Reporting - ☛ Carole Cadwalladr The killing of a black man https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-killing-of-a-black-man It’s pretty long and somewhat academic but if you want to understand what actually happened - and crucially, how - it brings a significant new body of evidence to light. Lamy’s expertise in online propaganda and the networks behind it reframes the entire story: she first contextualises the individuals who sought to discredit Arday, their motivations, their involvement in a far bigger right-wing “race realist” network, its long-term strategic goals and how their framing shaped the entire media storm. And, crucially, it still does. It’s not that proper journalistic processes weren’t followed: they were. But by accepting ideological framing, the reporting laundered the claims from their original ideological source and, in doing so, independently legitimised them. That’s the frame. And Stephanie’s piece busts it wide open. - ☛ Virtualizor Security Incident – BGP Hijacking https://www.virtualizor.com/blog/security-incident-bgp-hijacking/ Traffic between networks on the Internet is routed using BGP Border Gateway Protocol , a system that has historically relied on networks trusting one another’s route announcements. In a BGP hijack, a network announces IP address ranges it does not control, and traffic for those addresses is drawn toward it. - - Environment - ☛ New York Times In Nepal and Tibet, Pollution on Glaciers Could Fuel More Flood Disasters https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/climate/pollution-soot-glaciers-melting-himalayas.html Scientists are particularly concerned about soot on glaciers, and not just because of the heavy metals and other hazardous materials the pollution contains. Like a black T-shirt worn when the sun feels hot, darkened ice is less reflective, and it absorbs more solar radiation directly onto the glacier surface. It weakens what scientists call the albedo effect, the ability of a surface to reflect solar energy back into space. Albedo is the scientific term for the reflectivity of a surface, specifically measuring the fraction of solar energy reflected back into space compared with the total amount that strikes it. - ☛ MinnPost This rare wetland prevents Minnesota from pumping infinite groundwater https://www.minnpost.com/drinking-water/2026/09/whats-a-fen-this-rare-wetland-is-why-southeastern-minnesota-cant-endlessly-pump-groundwater/ While most people wouldn’t know a calcareous fen if they walked right through one, this wetland type is at the center of a debate in Rochester over how the city will manage its water supply as it closes in on the maximum amount of groundwater it is allowed to withdraw. In 2024, the Department of Natural Resources prohibited Rochester from building any new groundwater wells, citing concerns about the effect on the rare wetlands. - ☛ Vox Why the data center backlash won’t stop the AI buildout https://www.vox.com/politics/501146/data-centers-bans-polls-ai In an August survey from Heatmap Pro and Embold Research, just 15 percent of Americans said they would support a data center being built in their area, while 75 percent expressed opposition. One year earlier, 43 percent of respondents in the same poll had approved of nearby data center development, while just 42 percent opposed it. - ☛ Sang-Ki Lee Why High-Latitude Marine Heatwaves are Supercharging Coastal Carbon Sinks https://ocean2climate.org/2026/09/02/why-high-latitude-marine-heatwaves-are-supercharging-coastal-carbon-sinks/ Marine heatwaves MHWs are traditionally framed as the villains of the climate crisis. These periods of anomalously high sea surface temperatures are well-documented ecological disasters, responsible for mass coral bleaching, collapsing fisheries, and the decimation of vital foundation species. The standard narrative is grim: as the ocean heats up, its ecosystems—and its ability to regulate the climate—suffocate. However, a surprising discovery in the journal Nature Communications is flipping this narrative on its head. While these “hot” water events generally stress the planet, they are simultaneously triggering a chemical and biological “tug of war” in the coastal carbon cycle. In a startling paradox, extreme heat is actually helping the coastal ocean “breathe in” more carbon dioxide. Under the right conditions, the very events we fear as climate stressors are supercharging the planet’s natural cooling mechanisms. - ☛ Jérôme Marin Opposition to data centers is gaining ground https://cafetechinenglish.substack.com/p/opposition-to-data-centers-is-gaining Across numerous states, the breakneck expansion of data centers over the past two years has become a major electoral issue. Several candidates are looking to use it to unseat incumbent senators and governors who, for the most part, have welcomed multibillion-dollar projects in the name of the thousands of jobs they are expected to create. But public opinion has since shifted. Two-thirds of Americans now say they oppose having a data center built near where they live, according to a University of Virginia poll. Fewer than 20% support such developments. - ☛ Pivot to AI Romania’s new data centre for ‘AI and quantum’ https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/09/01/romanias-new-data-centre-for-ai-and-quantum/ This is a great plan, and the bit where it makes no sense is a minor detail. The Romanian press started digging. DriverAI’s slogan is “The Future of In-Store Intelligence”. What they do is they sell retail shopping apps with computer vision for retailers. They’ve been registered as a company since July 2024. They have no history in data centres. - ☛ Nashville Public Radio Noise pollution from data centers is coming. The gas-powered xAI model is spreading https://wpln.org/post/noise-pollution-from-data-centers-is-coming-the-gas-powered-xai-model-is-spreading/ The side effects of this industrial expansion include air pollution, planet-warming emissions and an emerging pollutant of concern: noise that never turns off. The sounds and vibrations from data center complexes are penetrating surrounding towns — with very few regulations in the way and little public awareness about their harms. - Energy/Transportation - ☛ The Tyee New Meta Data Centre Could Cost Albertans $460 a Year | The Tyee https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/09/02/New-Meta-Data-Centre-Cost-Albertans/ Oddly, Alberta media seem to have had very little to say about the new analysis by the Pembina Institute that the $13-billion artificial intelligence data centre planned by Meta Platforms Inc. in Sturgeon County could add from $270 to $460 a year to Albertans’ electricity bills once the hyperscale installation has powered up. The free Fringe Patio on Granville Island will feature all-ages live music co-presented with Coastal Jazz over the Labour Day Weekend. “At the heart of significant electricity market pressures, and the resulting bill increases, are Alberta’s ‘Bring Your Own Generation’ rules, which allow data centres to connect to the grid before their generation is brought online,” the Calgary-based organization said of its analysis in a news release. - ☛ Hong Kong Free Press China says solar power capacity surpasses coal for first time https://hongkongfp.com/2026/09/01/china-says-solar-power-capacity-surpasses-coal-for-first-time/ “As of the end of July this year, China’s installed solar power capacity reached 1.286 billion kilowatts,” the National Energy Administration NEA said. “For the first time, photovoltaic installed capacity surpassed coal-fired power, becoming the largest power source category in China,” it added. - ☛ Interesting Engineering Solid-state battery hits 381 Wh/kg as Taiwan mass production begins https://interestingengineering.com/energy/prologium-solid-state-battery-mass-production-381-wh-kg The cell also passed a separate test by UL Solutions under China’s GB/T 43568-2026 methodology for all-solid-state batteries. After six hours under vacuum at 120 degrees Celsius, the cell recorded less than 0.05% weight loss, compared with the standard’s maximum threshold of 0.5%. - - - AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics - ☛ The Strategist Preserving freedom to govern in the face of economic coercion | The Strategist https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/preserving-freedom-to-govern-in-the-face-of-economic-coercion/ Governments throughout the region are making important decisions about artificial intelligence, semiconductors, critical minerals, digital infrastructure, investment screening, Taiwan, the South China Sea and defence partnerships. Each carries potential economic consequences. Increasingly, there has been an argument that governments should moderate their positions because defending principles, exercising sovereign rights or supporting the lawful rights of others may carry too high an economic cost. - ☛ India Times AI data centers: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk make plea at G20 for more AI data centers https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-make-plea-at-g20-for-more-ai-data-centers/articleshow/133696193.cms The talks came amid a growing backlash against the construction of AI data centers in the United States, a question that has become a major issue as the country heads to midterm elections later this year. - ☛ Tom's Hardware Arm faces potential shareholder revolt over CEO's 'excessive' $800 million pay package — huge stock award would only be fully realised if chip designer hits $2 trillion valuation https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/arm-faces-potential-shareholder-revolt-over-ceos-excessive-usd800-million-pay-package-huge-stock-award-would-only-be-fully-realised-if-chip-designer-hits-usd2-trillion-valuation British semiconductor and software design company Arm is asking shareholders to approve a massive performance-based pay package for CEO Rene Haas worth up to $800 million if the company reaches a $2 trillion valuation, a move that has drawn pushback from proxy advisors ahead of a September 9th vote. According to an August 31 report by the Telegraph, the company is facing a potential shareholder revolt as proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder Services ISS and Glass Lewis urged investors to vote against the compensation plan, calling it excessive. - ☛ Los Angeles Times Uber lays off 10% of its workforce in biggest cut since 2020 https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-09-02/uber-lays-off-10-of-its-workforce-in-biggest-cut-since-2020 Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi announced the layoffs in a letter to employees Wednesday. The cut comes as Uber faces increasing competition from the growing robotaxi industry and other delivery services such as Instacart and DoorDash. - ☛ Semafor Inc Uber to cut 10% of corporate roles in bid to get ‘faster’ https://www.semafor.com/article/09/02/2026/uber-to-cut-10-of-corporate-roles-in-bid-to-get-faster The company’s shares have fallen 8% this year on perceptions it’s lagging Alphabet’s Waymo in the self-driving race. Waymo announced last month that it’s looking to exit its partnership with Uber, as the two become increasingly direct competitors. - ☛ New York Times Uber Lays Off 10% of Employees in Sweeping Reorganization https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/technology/uber-layoffs.html The layoffs are set to affect 20 percent of rank-and-file employees who are seven or more layers below Mr. Khosrowshahi, he said. He added that Uber would increase the number of employees under each manager by cutting the teams that had only one or two workers by half, which would flatten the company. - ☛ Tor Arti 2.6.0 released | The Tor Project https://blog.torproject.org/arti 2 6 0 released/ Arti is our ongoing project to create a next-generation Tor implementation in Rust. We're happy to announce the latest release, Arti 2.6.0. This release continues our ongoing development towards using Arti as a relay and as a directory authority, with much of the work focusing on document parsing, directory mirror support, and DNS stream handling. Additionally, on the RPC front, we are making steady progress towards RPC-based configuration management. Finally, congestion control and Counter Galois Onion cryptography are both now always enabled in arti. - ☛ The Drone Girl New NDAA compliant gimbals from Gremsy hit the market https://www.thedronegirl.com/2026/09/02/ndaa-compliant-drone-gimbals-gremsy-teledyne-flir/ Between state-level government bans, FCC crackdowns, and strict federal procurement rules, everyone not just government buyers is talking about buying “American-made” drones. But building a compliant drone isn’t just about molding a carbon-fiber airframe in California or assembling quadcopters in Florida. Alas, the microcontrollers, optical sensors, and thermal cores inside the payload matter just as much as where the drone itself was built. - ☛ Richard J Tofel A Week Off from Journalism https://dicktofel.substack.com/p/a-week-off-from-journalism Again, the essay is here. Second Rough Draft will return next week to our regular programming. - ☛ Mike Brock The Tribute https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-tribute Donald Trump’s call to Cook was not a friendly request — it was a reminder. And, no, AI didn’t write that — I did, including the em-dashes — and I will now explain what Trump was reminding Cook of. The ledger is public, and it is long. A million dollars to the inaugural, and a seat in the Capitol rotunda ahead of the men who would run the government. The gold: a custom glass disc on a 24-karat gold base, engraved with the president’s name, handed over in the Oval Office on August 6 of last year beside a pledge of $600 billion — the vocabulary of court, not commerce, as I wrote at the time. The dinner in September, where he practiced his sycophancy at a table of oligarchs toasting the man who had threatened his company by name. - ☛ Mike Brock Yes, Right-Wing Demons — AOC Is Actually Hot https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/yes-right-wing-demons-aoc-is-actually She has the paid right’s number, and the paid right knows it. She sees through the reactionary word games because she has watched them run on tape for a decade, in her direction, from her seat in Congress. She names the moves as the moves are being made. She plays the game better than the people paid to play it, which is why the people paid to play it call her an airhead — she is more intelligent than any of them, and the airhead line is the discipline that keeps their audience from noticing. They call her an idiot because her working knowledge of tax policy and immigration law and monetary economics runs deeper than the working knowledge of anyone Fox will put in a chair opposite her, and the idiot line is the discipline that keeps their audience from noticing that either. She is what they wanted to be and are resentful they are not, and the resentment is the fuel the paycheck runs on. So they take the job, and they read the script the Murdochs hand them, and they call themselves independent thinkers while doing it, and the word independentbecomes the tell. - ☛ Jérôme Marin The challenges facing John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO https://cafetechinenglish.substack.com/p/the-challenges-facing-john-ternus For years, John Ternus was one of Apple’s least-known senior executives. He is now taking the helm of the tech giant. On Tuesday, he officially becomes CEO, succeeding Tim Cook, who has led the company since 2011 and will become executive chairman of the board. The transition, announced in late April, comes at a pivotal moment for Apple, which is grappling with its lag in generative artificial intelligence and a spectacular surge in memory-chip prices. - ☛ Devon Dundee There Is No “Them” https://devondundee.com/blog/there-is-no-them Removing the us-versus-them mentality from my worldview is something I am constantly working on, because there’s no room for it in the heart of someone who has compassion for the world. If I truly believe – as I claim – to see everybody I come into contact with as a full person deserving of the same dignity, consideration, and respect that I desire for myself and my loved ones, then I can’t really see anyone else as “other.” - ☛ 9to5Mac Read Tim Cook's full memo to Apple employees on his last day as CEO https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/31/read-tim-cooks-full-memo-to-apple-employees-on-his-last-day-as-ceo/ In the memo sent to employees this morning and obtained by 9to5Mac, Cook reflects on his time at Apple and thanks employees for all of their work. He also says he takes “enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable” as John Ternus. - ☛ Anil Dash VC isn’t VC anymore — understanding the rise of Cancer Capital https://www.anildash.com/2026/09/02/cancer-capital/ We really, really need to talk about venture capital. Because it’s not “venture capital” anymore. There’s a huge disconnect between what most people think of VC, where an investor has a big fund and cuts checks to help a founder build a company, and the current reality, where a handful of billionaire extremists use the cover of “VC” to advance an outrageous agenda where they’re accountable to no one. I’m gonna explain this from a standpoint that almost never gets articulated: I’ve personally raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital funding as CEO of startups, and been directly involved as a board member or advisor in raising hundreds of millions more. I’ve sat in board rooms, across the table from the people I’m talking about here, or been at the industry events that they frequent. So this isn’t sour grapes because these VCs wouldn’t cut me a check, or some chip on my shoulder about these investors due to a business deal. This is what I know about these bad actors because I’m part of the community of creators and inventors who build the things that they used to invest in — back when they still cared about innovation. Many of the trends in society and politics that people are most angry about, from data centers being forced down everyone’s throats, to all of our favorite apps and services being enshittified, to politicians being paid to ignore the will of the people, are all being supercharged by these cancer capitalists. They have warped the structure of venture capital into a form of oligarchy that answers to no market, no regulators, and no voters. So it’s worth understanding exactly how they did it. - - Censorship/Free Speech - ☛ Human rights Activists News Agency Qorveh: Hezhir Yaghoubi Sentenced to Imprisonment and Flogging https://www.en-hrana.org/qorveh-hezhir-yaghoubi-sentenced-to-imprisonment-and-flogging/ Hezhir Yaghoubi, a resident of Qorveh and one of those arrested during the January 2026 protests, was sentenced by a criminal court to one year in prison and 31 lashes. - - Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press - ☛ CPJ Journalist İrem Delice arrested in Turkey on suspicion of ‘spreading disinformation’ https://cpj.org/2026/09/journalist-irem-delice-arrested-in-turkey-on-suspicion-of-spreading-disinformation/ Istanbul, September 2, 2026—Turkish authorities should immediately release journalist İrem Delice, who was arrested on August 29 on suspicion of “spreading disinformation,” and repeal the disinformation law, which is being used all too often to criminalise journalism and silence reporting in Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. - ☛ CPJ CPJ urges Benin’s president to strengthen press freedom https://cpj.org/2026/09/cpj-urges-benins-president-to-strengthen-press-freedom/ The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged Beninese President Romuald Wadagni to take decisive measures to protect press freedom, in a letter marking his first 100 days in office. - ☛ CPJ Open Letter: CPJ urges Benin’s president to strengthen press freedom https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/EN-CPJ-Letter-to-His-Excellency-the-President-of-Benin-September-1-2026.pdf PDF Both journalists remain unjustly imprisoned on charges, including the glorification of terrorism and harassment through electronic communications. We urge your administration to take immediate steps toward the unconditional release of Mr. Sossoukpè and Mr. Moumouni, which would send a powerful signal in support of independent journalism. These charges, brought in retaliation for critical reporting, are not isolated incidents and cast a chilling effect across the entire media profession. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in December 2025, journalist Angela Kpeidja was sentenced to 12 months in prison merely for asking questions on Facebook about the unfolding coup. Her colleague, Pascal Sègbégnon Mitowadé, faces imprisonment until 2030 following a disproportionate sentence for “glorification of a crime against state security, incitement to hatred via the internet, and incitement to rebellion.” - - Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility - ☛ The Walrus The Taliban’s Laws Are Killing Women and Children https://thewalrus.ca/the-talibans-laws-are-killing-women-and-children/ The child’s death is one of countless avoidable tragedies that Amina has witnessed over the past five years, all compounded, if not outright caused, by the Taliban’s decisions. The authorities have installed inexperienced administrators to lead medical centres, many demonstrating greater concern over upholding policies such as mahram requirements and dress codes than saving lives. In some places, social norms or even formal policies forbid women and girls from receiving medical care from men. When no female medical staff are available, male doctors don’t treat women or examine them directly; often, they instead speak to the mahram, who has to relay the patient’s symptoms. - ☛ Techdirt Flock-Stalking, Nazi-Saluting Deputy Given Top Cop Honors Before Hastily Retiring Ahead Of Criminal Charges https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/02/flock-stalking-nazi-saluting-deputy-given-top-cop-honors-before-hastily-retiring-ahead-of-criminal-charges/ Portentous. Perhaps even ominous. Spoiler alert: it’s both. The letter prompted an investigation of the newly crowned Deputy of the Year by the same entity that had bestowed it upon him. To say “it’s not pretty” is like saying Mt. Vesuvius was “a little overactive.” - ☛ Techdirt Whistleblower: USPS Defied A Court Injunction To Build An Untested, Undocumented Ballot-Blocking System. Its Own Staff Call The Process “A Shit Show.” https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/02/whistleblower-usps-defied-a-court-injunction-to-build-an-untested-undocumented-ballot-blocking-system-its-own-staff-call-the-process-a-shit-show/ Specifically, the executive order tells the US Postal Service to engage in a “rulemaking” that is designed to make it much more difficult for states to offer mail-in ballots. And, on top of that, it demands that states that offer mail-in ballots must hand over their voter rolls to the federal government. The White House has been demanding voter rolls from a bunch of states, and so far every state that has engaged in litigation over this issue has won it’s now over 20 cases, all of which have gone against the administration . - ☛ New Republic Whistleblower Warns USPS Has Secret Plan to Undo Mail-In Voting https://newrepublic.com/post/214956/whistleblower-warning-usps-vote-by-mail The allegations were made public Tuesday morning by way of a letter from Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal to Postmaster General David Steiner. Citing the insider’s testimony, Blumenthal said that the “risky and haphazard” implementation of President Donald Trump’s March executive order—which granted the postal service new gatekeeping responsibilities regarding mail-in ballots—could lead to a “catastrophic failure” in U.S. voting procedures come November. - ☛ Vox USPS whistleblower warns mail-in ballot order could disrupt midterms https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/501557/mail-in-voting According to the whistleblower, the US Postal Service has rushed out a janky, error-prone processing system in its mad dash to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots. That order, currently paused, would require states to comply with new rules for preparing, tracking, and mailing ballots. Several states have since sued to stop it. If the order does go into effect, however, the Postal Service has to be prepared. So the agency scrambled to hack together its new system — forgoing standard testing procedures and adding requirements that are likely to hold up thousands of outbound ballots, the whistleblower says. - ☛ Adrian Roselli Evaluating a Success Criterion https://adrianroselli.com/2026/09/evaluating-a-success-criterion.html When performing a WCAG evaluation or review or audit , it’s easy to get caught up in the intent versus meaning of a particular Success Criterion. Especially when that SC was written before the interface pattern you’re poking was conceived. Until, and even when, you have built your own potentially localized references for how to apply an SC to whatever situation, it’s best to have a plan for how to interpret the uninterpretable. - ☛ Techdirt ICE Finalizes Stun Glove Purchase, Claims There’s No Other Way To Handle ‘Violent’ Migrants https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/02/ice-finalizes-stun-glove-purchase-claims-theres-no-other-way-to-handle-violent-migrants/ With only one provider available, the decision was easy. ICE finalized its threatened purchase of 6,000 G.L.O.V.E.s from Compliant Technologies late last week, ensuring officers will have even more ways to inflict pain on thousands of non-criminals, ranging from ambushed migrants to peaceful protesters who have managed to momentarily inconvenience ICE’s kidnapping squads. - - Internet Policy/Net Neutrality - ☛ CoryDoctorow Pluralistic: Unpermissioned research 02 Sep 2026 https://pluralistic.net/2026/09/02/scrape-scrope-scrap/ Take the fight over scraping for AI. You might think that this is a fight over the economic rights of creative workers – certainly, my fellow creative workers treat it as such. But because this debate is being framed in terms of property rights, rather than labor rights, this is a fight that workers are set up to lose. The tell here is how the media companies – who have been eroding the wages of creative workers for decades as they consolidated into a curdled, inbred oligopoly – describe the AI companies' scraping: as an unlicensed taking. Mitch Glazier, the $1.4m/year CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America issues press releases decrying AI training for image generators without negotiating a license fee first: ... - - Monopolies/Monopsonies - ☛ Digital Music News Brazilian President Signs 'Taylor Swift Law' to Protect Fans https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/09/02/brazil-president-taylor-swift-law-protect-fans/ To combat the purchase of massive swaths of tickets through automated systems, as well as abusive resale practice, platforms must clearly report the original ticket price, additional charges, and any amounts charged above the nominal price. The regulations also establish mechanisms such as virtual lines and pre-registrations to organize sales at high-demand events. In addition, ticket transfer through official platforms must be available without additional costs. - ☛ Court House News Google dodges antitrust breakup of ad tech business https://www.courthousenews.com/google-dodges-antitrust-breakup-of-ad-tech-business/ U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the Department of Justice’s proposals for structural remedies in the form of the divestiture of key programs — specifically AdX, Google’s ad exchange, along with a proposal to open source Double Click for Publishers final auction logic. Prosecutors had contended that those programs allowed Google to maintain an ad-tech monopoly. - ☛ New York Times In a Big Win, Google Won’t Have to Break Up Its Ad Tech Business, Court Rules https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/technology/google-ad-tech-remedies.html Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, issued her sealed decision after finding last year that Google broke the law to protect its dominance over the largely invisible system of technology that places ads on pages across the web. The ruling was previewed in a short order posted by the court. - ☛ The Washington Post Google’s advertising tech monopoly doesn’t need to be broken up, judge says https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/09/02/googles-advertising-tech-monopoly-doesnt-need-be-broken-up-judge-says/ A federal judge declined Wednesday to break up Google’s advertising technology business, granting another reprieve to the search giant despite a series of courts finding it holds monopolies in key parts of the online economy. - Copyrights - ☛ Digital Music News Suno Faces Another Copyright Suit, This Time from Gerencia 360 https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/09/01/gerencia-suno-lawsuit/ Another day, another high-stakes copyright lawsuit against Suno – this time from Latin label and publisher Gerencia 360, which is accusing the AI music platform of infringing on hundreds of compositions and recordings. - ☛ Digital Music News Canada's SOCAN Files Sweeping Copyright Lawsuit Against Suno https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/09/02/socan-suno-copyright-lawsuit/ Moreover, with said outputs representing “the tip of the iceberg” on the infringement front, SOCAN is demanding CA$10 million in punitive and exemplary damages for Suno’s “knowing, high-handed, willful, and malicious disregard for” the performing rights in question. Additionally, the plaintiff is seeking a piece of the profits stemming from the alleged infringement or, alternatively, statutory damages of CA$20,000 per allegedly infringed work. - ☛ New York Times Justice Dept. Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Suit https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/technology/justice-department-openai-copyright-suit.html The Justice Department argued that developing A.I. was critical to national security, and that training A.I. systems sufficiently transformed the written works to new material allowed under copyright law. It said the benefits of A.I. “far outweigh any competitive harm.” - ☛ Wired Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit https://www.wired.com/story/trump-administration-sides-with-ai-giants-new-york-times-lawsuit/ While the letter focuses on the New York Times and OpenAI, the government noted that its arguments apply to all of the parties in this case and related cases, including other publishers and authors. Training LLMs on copyrighted works is considered “extraordinarily transformative,” meaning that these systems meaningfully change their inputs, the administration argued. The administration also wrote that OpenAI’s LLMs do not significantly compete with The New York Times’ articles. Courts consider both of these conditions, as well as others, when deciding if the fair use doctrine is met. - ☛ Digital Music News US Recorded Music Revenue Hit $6B in H1 '26, Per RIAA Report https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/09/01/us-recorded-music-revenue-h1-2026/ Having put its plateau concerns in the rearview – at least for now – vinyl is said to have generated $543.8 million up 17.7% YoY and moved 26.5 million units up 20.9% YoY in the U.S. during the half-year window. CDs, for their part, posted a significant 58.6% YoY revenue spike to $171.1 million, with units sold having jumped 45.7% YoY to 17.5 million. - - - Gemini Primer /gemini links can be opened using Gemini software https://geminiprotocol.net/software/ . It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.